Chili Paste with Fermented Soy Bean Chicken and Mixed Mushroom Fish Balls (湖南豆豉辣椒菇魚蛋雞, Wu4 Naam4 Dau6 Si6 Laat6 Ziu1 Gu1 Jyu4 Daan6 Gai1)

Using seafood and meat in a dish is a classic combination in Chinese cooking. In this case chicken is used as the meat and mixed mushroom fish balls are the seafood in a mildly spicy sauce. The more unusual ingredient in this recipe is the mixed mushroom fish balls. Fish balls are a fairly common ingredient in Chinese cooking and is used mainly in hot pots and soups, but can also be stir fried. When stir fried, fish balls are easier to cook and eat when cut in half. Fish balls, which mainly consist of ground fish, can be found in the refrigerated or frozen section of your local Asian market, and come in many varieties (i.e. the type of fish used). Mixed mushroom fish balls have bits of mushroom mixed in with the ground fish. If you’re lucky enough to have your local Asian market sell fish balls already thawed in the refrigerated section, all you have to do to use them is to cut them in half before stir frying. If mixed mushroom fish balls are not available, any other fish ball can be substituted.

Enjoy!

Black Bean Chili Sauce String Bean Beef (黑豆辣椒青豆角牛肉, Hak1 Dau6 Laat6 Ziu1 Ceng1 Dau6 Gok3 Ngau4 Juk6)

This version of the Spicy Black Bean Sauce Beef and Green Beans (青豆角牛肉, Ceng¹ Dau⁶ Gok³ Ngau⁴ Juk⁶) recipe uses a few more ingredients than just the beef and string beans. A spicy black bean sauce is still used (made by Laoganma), but the dish can be made without the spiciness by using salted black beans or a prepared black bean garlic sauce (made by Lee Kum Kee). Red chili peppers further enhance the spiciness of this dish, and the amount is a personal preference and optional.

Enjoy!

Sugar Snap Pea Fish with Cloud Ear Fungus (雲耳蜜豆炒魚, Wan4 Ji5 Mat6 Dau6 Caau2 Jyu4)

You need to use some technique whenever making a stir fried fish dish. First of all, the selection of the fish is important. You want to use a firm fleshed fish for stir frying so that it doesn’t break up when stir fried. The best advice is to pick the freshest firm fish fillet that you can find at your local market, but frozen works well too. Secondly, you want to cut the fillets into large pieces to help keep the pieces intact when stir fried. Small pieces of fish don’t survive stir frying very well. Finally, when stir frying the dish, you have to be gentle when mixing the dish together to minimize the fish breaking into small pieces. It’s also easy to mask the flavor of the fish with the sauce, so since a white fleshed fish was used in this dish, a simple soy based sauce was used.

Enjoy!

Chicken and Shrimp Hong Kong Noodles (蝦雞炒雲吞麵, Haa1 Gai1 Caau2 Wan4 Tan1 Min6)

Chicken and shrimp taste great together, and for this recipe, are paired with Hong Kong noodles (in Cantonese: won ton noodles). The noodles are flavored with just the basics – soy sauce (thick and regular) and some Shaoxing wine - so the taste of the chicken and shrimp aren’t hidden by the sauce.

Enjoy!

Grilled Chili Garlic Sauce Lamb Chops (燒烤蒜蓉辣椒羊扒, Siu1 Haau1 Syun3 Jung4 Laat6 Ziu1 Joeng4 Paa4)

Lamb chops are easily overcooked, so the lamb grilling and smoking time needs to be based upon the heat of your grill and previous experience. The trick is to quickly grill both sides of the lamb over a very hot fire before smoking. This recipe uses lamb chops marinated overnight with spicy chili garlic sauce mixture.

Enjoy!

Shrimp Sauce Chicken Rice Roll Chow Fun (幼滑蝦雞炒腸粉, Jau3 Waat6 Haa1 Gai1 Caau2 Coeng4 Fan2)

Shrimp sauce is an unusual addition to a noodle dish, but I liken it to anchovy paste, which is used in many dishes to enhance flavor. Like anchovy paste, even though it is a fish/shrimp based ingredient, there’s no fishy taste once it’s cooked. Shrimp sauce is an unusual shade of purple out of the bottle, but don’t let that stop you from using it. An alternative to use, if shrimp paste is not available, is fish sauce.

Chow fun noodles should be fresh and unrefrigerated before cooking. The texture of the noodles becomes hard once refrigerated, so to keep the soft texture they should be bought and used the same day. In California, where I live, there is a law that allows chow fun noodles to be sold unrefrigerated. If only refrigerated chow fun noodles are available, microwaving the noodles will soften them, but the texture will not be the same as fresh.

When you eat chow fun noodle dishes at a Chinese restaurant, you can specify (at the good restaurants) that you want the dish wet or dry. What that means is that you can specify if you want the noodles with or without gravy. With gravy (“wet”) means that the sauce will be more liquid, thickened with a corn starch slurry; without (“dry”) means that the sauce will be minimal with no thickeners. This dish is a “wet” version of chow fun. My previous recipes for chow fun are “dry” – Black Bean Chili Sauce Beef Rice Roll Chow Fun (黑豆辣椒牛肉炒粉, Hak¹ Dau⁶ Laat⁶ Ziu¹ Ngau⁴ Juk⁶ Caau² Fan²) and Spicy Pork Rice Roll Chow Fun (辣豆辦豬肉炒粉, Laat⁶ Dau⁶ Faan⁶ Zyu¹ Juk⁶ Caau² Fan²)

Enjoy!

Grilled Lemongrass Rosemary Garlic Boneless Pork Ribs (燒烤檸檬葉迷迭香蒜去骨的豬排骨, Siu1 Haau1 Ning4 Mung4 Jip6 Mai4 Dit6 Hoeng1 Syun3 Heoi3 Gwat1 Dik1 Zyu1 Paai4 Gwat1)

The spice mixture used in the Grilled Apple-Oak Smoked Lemongrass Rosemary Garlic Turkey recipe was the basis for making a spice paste for boneless pork ribs. Like the Grilled Lemongrass Rosemary Garlic Lamb Rib Chops (燒烤檸檬葉迷迭香蒜羊扒, Siu¹ Haau¹ Ning⁴ Mung⁴ Jip⁶ Mai⁴ Dit⁶ Hoeng¹ Syun³ Joeng⁴ Paa⁴) recipe, the spice mixture – lemongrass, rosemary, and garlic - has dried red chilies added to give the pork an added spicy kick to the taste. Pork rib chops are easily overcooked, so the pork grilling and smoking time needs to be based upon the heat of your grill and previous experience.

Enjoy!